Strife casts shadow on Eid-ul-Fitr in Egypt, Yemen, Afghan

August 9, 2013

Muslims_celebrate

Cairo, Aug 9: Millions of Muslims paid respects at ancestral graves, shared festive family meals and visited beaches and amusement parks Thursday to mark the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, but violence and political tension overshadowed holiday joy in hotspots like Egypt, Yemen and Afghanistan.

The three-day Eid Al-Fitr holiday, which caps Ramadan, also highlighted the long-running divide between Sunni and Shiite Muslims.

Many Sunnis began celebrating Thursday, while Shiites were to mark the holiday Friday, based on different views about sighting the moon.

In recent months, sectarian tensions have risen between Sunnis and Shiites, with the two sides increasingly lined up on opposite sides of Syria’s civil war.

Ramadan and Eid Al-Fitr are a time of increased religious devotion, and some Muslims said they’re particularly distraught over discord among the faithful during the holiday season.

In Egypt, where rival political camps have been facing off since the military ousted President Muhammad Mursi last month, worshipper Medhat Abdel Moneam said he doesn’t like to see Muslims quarreling.

Abdel Moneam was among hundreds of Mursi opponents performing prayers in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.

“I am very sad about what is going on in Egypt,” he said of the intensifying showdown between Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood and interim rulers backed by the military. “Today is Eid, and the Egyptian people are divided into two sides, two different thoughts, and it’s a shame because both sides are Muslims.”

Mursi supporters, camped out at two other sites in Cairo, said they will not give up until Mursi is reinstated. “Whoever thought that the revolution would come to an end once Ramadan is over was wrong,” said Mohammed el-Beltagy, a top Muslim Brotherhood figure.

Protesters at one of the pro-Mursi sit-ins set up an amusement park for children with trampolines, slides and water games.

For many of the world’s hundreds of millions of Muslims, Eid Al-Fitr begins with a cemetery visit to pay respects to ancestors. In parts of the Middle East, people typically place palm fronds on graves.

In other holiday customs, children get haircuts, new clothes and toys, while well-off families slaughter animals and distribute the meat to the poor. Relatives visit each other, gather for festive meals, such as lamb and rice sprinkled with pine nuts, or spend the day in parks or on beaches.

In eastern Afghanistan, a bomb planted in a cemetery killed seven women and seven children from an extended family as they visited a relative’s grave as part of Eid observances.

There was no claim of responsibility, but a man whose daughter was killed in the blast blamed Taleban insurgents. Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack and urged the Taleban to lay down their arms.

In northern Iraq, police closed many streets in the mainly Sunni city of Mosul to prevent car bombs during the holiday. Bombings are part of Iraq’s ongoing sectarian strife, and violence has picked up in recent months.

Mosul resident Mohammed Al-Samak said he planned to take his wife and five children to an amusement park later in the day despite the potential risk.

“We are aware that the security situation in Mosul is bad, but we cannot stay home all the time,” he said. “The family and I decided to have a nice Eid, away from fear and sadness.”

In Syria, devastated by civil war, rebels fired rockets and mortar shells Thursday at an upscale neighborhood in the capital, Damascus, where President Bashar Assad attended Eid prayers.

At least two rebel brigades claimed to have hit Assad’s motorcade on its way to a mosque, but this appeared to be untrue. Two opposition figures said the route was hit but not the convoy itself. State TV broadcast images of Assad praying at the mosque.

Syria’s brutal war, in its third year, has killed more than 100,000 people and uprooted millions, with no end in sight.

In tent camps that have sprung up in neighboring countries, Syrian refugees marked the holiday with a mix of hope and despair.

“We wish in this Eid that God liberates Syria and to return safely to our country,” said Ibrahim Ismail, a refugee from Damascus, after he performed holiday prayers with others in Jordan’s sprawling Zaatari camp.

Yet, he said, “we feel truly said because we are not at home, we are displaced.”

In the Palestinian territories, rival leaders Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank and Ismail Haniyeh in the Gaza Strip used holiday speeches to stake out their opposing views on the negotiations with Israel that resumed last week.

Abbas, the Western-backed Palestinian president, said he hoped that by next year’s holiday, “our people will achieve their hope of freedom and independence.” Abbas is embarking on a new attempt, after a five-year freeze, to negotiate the terms of a Palestinian state with Israel.

Haniyeh, the top leader of the Islamic militant Hamas organization in Gaza, urged Abbas to walk away from the negotiations, noting that 20 years of intermittent talks have delivered no results. “From here, we reaffirm our rejection of negotiations,” he told worshippers.

In Yemen, security was tight Thursday in the capital, Sanaa, a day after the government announced it had foiled an Al-Qaeda plot to take over key cities in the south and attack strategic ports and gas facilities.

Multiple checkpoints were set up across Sanaa, and tanks and other military vehicles guarded vital institutions.

In Kosovo, a former hotspot, about 100 ethnic Albanian Muslims were driven by police escort Thursday into the Serb-run part of the town of Mitrovica to visit family graves.

The town was split into a northern part controlled by Serbs and a southern part run by Albanians at the end of the 1998-99 Kosovo war. Since then the two sides have lived apart and in enmity.

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News Network
April 24,2020

Dubai, Apr 24: The UAE reported 525 new COVID-19 cases on Friday. The Ministry of Health and Prevention said the total number of confirmed cases in the UAE is now 9,281.

MOHAP reported 8 deaths taking the total number of deaths in the country to 64. 123 recoveries have also been announced.

According to the Ministry of Health and Prevention, the latest cases were detected through its intensified investigation and examination procedures.

The ministry conducted over 32,000 additional COVID-19 tests among citizens and residents.

The ministry offered its sincere condolences to the families of the deceased. It also wished a speedy recovery to all patients and called upon the general public to strictly adhere to preventative measures out of concern for the health and safety of all.

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News Network
April 2,2020

Dubai, Apr 2: A senior Saudi official urged more than 1 million Muslims intending to perform the hajj to delay making plans this year in comments suggesting the pilgrimage could be cancelled due to the new coronavirus pandemic.

In February, the kingdom took the extraordinary decision to close off the holy cities of Mecca and Medina to foreigners over the virus, a step which wasn’t taken even during the 1918 flu epidemic that killed tens of millions worldwide.

Restrictions have tightened in the kingdom as it grapples with over 1,500 confirmed cases of the new virus. The kingdom has reported 10 deaths so far. The Middle East has more than 71,000 confirmed cases of the virus, most of those in Iran, and over 3,300 deaths.

“The kingdom of Saudi Arabia is prepared to secure the safety of all Muslims and nationals,” Saudi Hajj and Umrah Minister Muhammad Saleh bin Taher Banten told state television. “That’s why we have requested from all Muslims around the world to hold onto signing any agreements (with tour operators) until we have a clear vision.”

Saudi Arabia has barred people from entering or exiting three major cities, including Mecca and Medina, and imposed a nighttime curfew across the country. Like other countries around the world and in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia has suspended all inbound and outbound commercial flights.

Each year, up to 2 million Muslims perform the hajj, a physically demanding and often costly pilgrimage that draws the faithful from around the world. The hajj, required of all able-bodied Muslims to perform once in their lifetime, is seen as a chance to wipe clean past sins and bring about greater humility and unity among Muslims.

Standing in Mecca in front of the cube-shaped Kaaba that Muslims pray toward five times daily, Banten also said the kingdom was already providing care for 1,200 pilgrims stuck in the holy city due to global travel restrictions. A number of them are being quarantined in hotels in Mecca, he said.

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News Network
May 31,2020

Dubai, May 31: As many as 84 beggars have been arrested in Dubai during the Eid Al Fitr holiday, the Dubai Police have said.

The arrests were carried out as part of their anti-begging campaign to prevent begging during the holy month of Ramadan.

Some illegal vendors, too, have been arrested in different areas of the emirate, the police added.

Colonel Ali Salem, Director of the Infiltrators Department at the Criminal Investigations Department of Dubai Police, said that the campaign aims to maintain the safety and security of the society, adding that the campaign was successful and helped reduce the number of beggars across the emirate.

He called on the public to report begging activities to the number 901 or the Dubai Police app.

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